


Blood, Wine, Ruby

by reckingstacks



Series: Dusk & Dawn [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Date Night, M/M, Trans Character, in which taako opens up and very nearly regrets it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 06:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8478973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reckingstacks/pseuds/reckingstacks
Summary: Wiping a stray trickle of wine off his chin in what he hopes is a discreet manner, Taako lets the question roll around in his mind for a minute. It's not that he doesn't trust Kravitz, nor that he's necessarily ashamed of how he used to live. He just knows what usually happens when he tells people these things.





	

**Author's Note:**

> damn y'all the response to this series has already been really nice!! thanx everyone who left kudos and comments on Blue Nail Polish. i was gonna hold this back til the end of the week but i'm about done polishing it i think lol so have at it

"Can I ask you something?"

Taako's head lolls to the side, and he looks up at Kravitz lazily, swirling the last of his wine around in the glass. They'd still had a half bottle of red sitting on their table by the time the pottery workshop ended, and Taako wasn't about to let that shit go to waste. He'd managed to smuggle it, and their two glasses, out of the room, despite Kravitz shooting him disapproving looks the whole time, and they'd found a deserted cafeteria to sit in and finish it off. Kravitz is wedged onto the end of a sleek couch; Taako is occupying the rest of it, sprawled across it and half splayed into Kravitz' lap.

"Go ahead, my guy." Taako takes a long drink from his glass. Kravitz watches him and absently twirls a lock of Taako's hair around his finger for a moment before speaking.

"You said you were always moving around when you were younger." Taako freezes, here, only just barely managing to avoid choking on his drink. "Why was that?"

Wiping a stray trickle of wine off his chin in what he hopes is a discreet manner, Taako lets the question roll around in his mind for a minute. It's not that he doesn't trust Kravitz, nor that he's necessarily ashamed of how he used to live. He just knows what usually happens when he tells people these things.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." Kravitz' voice pierces the silence and snaps Taako out of his thoughts.

"No. It's okay." Taako slumps onto his back and makes himself comfy with his head in Kravitz' lap. "My parents died when I was young. My aunt took me in, but then she died, too. After that, I didn't really have anywhere left to go."

"Oh."

"Mhm. I was tagging along with some bad crowds for a little while. It got better, but I was still just taking whatever opportunity was presented to me. Lots of jobs with merchant caravans and travelling performers. We went everywhere." He pauses to down the last mouthful of wine, leans over and places it on a coffee table, then settles back on the couch. "Then, you know, I wound up with a show of my own, and we were always taking that out on the road. And _then_ that whole... mm... _incident_ happened, and I never felt comfortable staying put after that, in case it caught up with me. To be honest, this place--" he gestures at the room, "--is the closest thing I've had to a permanent home in a long time. And, you know, that's pretty fucking sweet. I live on the motherfucking _moon_ now."

He giggles, and Kravitz chuckles along with him, still toying with his hair. His curls are dark and messy and a little sticky with what Kravitz assumes is some sort of hair product that has long since lost its hold.

"What were they like? The people you travelled with?"

"How long's a piece of string?" Taako sighs heavily. His hands find the edge of his cloak and he fiddles with the embroidered hem. It's a little purple number, meant for show more than practicality, with beads sewn into the intricate patterns by gold thread. "There were hundreds, maybe thousands of them, Krav. Some of them were good people - real good. Some of them were some real nasty pieces of work who could have gone to hell for all I cared."

"I suppose that's how it is with any situation." Kravitz stares down at the glassy, blood-red surface of the half-full wine glass in his right hand. "But it sounds unpleasant. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Taako stiffens immediately, because there it fucking is; the assumption that he was nothing but a helpless victim. It always comes. Always.

"I don't want sympathy," he snaps. The venom in his voice is enough to make Kravitz flinch, and he glances down nervously. He's never heard Taako sound so defensive before. Taako stares at the wall across the room, cloak clenched tightly in his hands.

"Sorry," he says finally, inhaling deeply to try and quell the reflexive anger. "But I don't want your pity. I don't want _anyone's_ pity. I'm not fragile. I'm not a victim. And, you know what? I wouldn't be where I am today if not for those years. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I didn't meet some real assholes out there, but--" he finally sits up, and turns to face Kravitz properly, "--it wasn't all bad. It wasn't as terrible as everybody assumes it was. It made me who I am. The people I met out there helped me find myself." His fingers curl even tighter around his cloak. He can feel the little glass beads digging into his skin. He's definitely, definitely delving way too deep, here, deeper than he's delved with anybody in years, but fuck it, he's already spilled his guts out. Why stop now?

"When you're in a completely new place with completely new people every other week-- I didn't have to worry about just being myself. If people didn't like it, it didn't fucking matter, because I'd probably never see them again. And nobody ever had any preconceived ideas about me!" He's been avoiding eye contact the whole time, but he finally looks up and meets Kravitz' gaze. "Nobody had to know I lived for twelve years as a girl. Nobody had to know what names I used before. Nobody had to know me as anything other than what I wanted, and it was fucking _amazing_."

Both of them are silent for a minute. Kravitz runs his tongue over his teeth and considers his next words very, very carefully. Taako's gaze drifts to his hands and he hopes to the gods that whatever Kravitz comes up with won't feed the fire of involuntary aggression smouldering inside him.

"I'm sorry," Kravitz says eventually. "I didn't mean to upset you. I don't think you're fragile at all. Quite the opposite, actually." He reaches out and gently lays his hand on one of Taako's; when Taako doesn't recoil, his hand snakes its way up his body to cup his jaw.

"For what it's worth," Kravitz murmurs, leaning in to punctuate his words with a soft kiss, "I think you're incredibly resilient, Taako. Not everybody is as unshakeable as you. A lot of people struggle to look at their experiences that way - as something that was ultimately positive, even if things weren't ideal." His hand creeps around to the back of Taako's neck, fingertips brushing the loose curls hanging at the nape. "It's... admirable. Very much so."

Well, the bastard knows his way to Taako's heart: compliments. His anger dissipates just as fast as it came on, and he can feel himself smiling, despite the messy, tangled knot of emotions the conversation has just yanked to the forefront of his mind.

"Well, thank you, darling." He pecks Kravitz on the cheek. "Now, hey, are you gonna finish that?" He points at the wine glass still balanced in Kravitz' right hand.

"Here." Kravitz offers it up to him with a smile. "You have it. I'll let you in on a little secret: alcohol doesn't really do a lot for me when most of my physical body is just an elaborate magical illusion."

"Sucks to be you, dude." Taako knocks the rest of the drink back in one hit, discards the glass, and promptly drops himself back into Kravitz' lap, yawning and wriggling around to try and make himself comfortable.

"Hey." Kravitz lifts him right back up. "If you're going to fall asleep, you should probably not be doing it here. Or in my lap."

Taako is on the brink of dozing off standing up by the time they arrive back at the dorms, clinging to Kravitz' side and trying very hard not to trip over his own feet. When they come to a stop, he turns to face Kravitz and pulls him in for a not-particularly-smooth kiss.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to get yourself to bed without breaking anything?" Kravitz asks, keeping his arms around Taako for fear of him falling.

"Abso-fuckin'-lutely." Taako stifles a yawn and gazes up at Kravitz. Even in the dark, the deep red of his eyes is visible, almost as if they were glowing. "Unless you're asking that because you want to get in bed with me, in which case, abso-fuckin'-lutely not."

Kravitz just laughs loudly. "Maybe next time." He strokes his hand across Taako's cheek one last time, then tentatively lets go of him, only stepping back once he's convinced Taako isn't going to topple over without support.

"Shy?" Taako shoots him a mischievous look, one eyebrow raised.

"Oh, _please_." Kravitz rolls his eyes and gives Taako a _look_ right back. "No. But you are very, very drunk. You should get some rest." He leans in to kiss Taako on the temple, murmuring softly, "I love you. Sleep well. I'll see you again soon."

"I didn't know I was dating-- fuckin'-- Captain Sensible over here." Not his best comeback. Maybe Kravitz is right. "Love you, too. Have fun out there."

He watches Kravitz step into his portal - it's still fucking weird, and makes his eyes go funny every time he has to look at it, like his brain knows it shouldn't be there and can't figure out what to do about it - then slinks away back to his room, whipping off his shoes and cloak and throwing himself down on the bed with a contented sigh. Now that he's alone, those messy emotions and old memories are bubbling to the surface again, but he quickly replaces them with thoughts of Kravitz. Those cool, slender hands. That glossy, dark hair. His soft lips. His ruby-red eyes.

He's _definitely_ going to hold him to that _next time_.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks again for reading! real excited to share the next installations where other characters start popping up.


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